Mack Duke of Camden, Maine, carded a 2-under par 70 to earn medallist honours at the final RBC Canadian Open Regional qualifier of 2017 at Club de Golf la Vallee du Richelieu – Vercheres Course.
Duke’s first place finish earns him a spot in the Final Qualifier taking place at Heron Point Golf Links in Ancaster, Ont., July 24th.
A minimum of four golfers will advance through final Monday qualifying to the 2017 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club, in Oakville, Ont., from July 24-30.
“Qualifiers are tough because one bad shot can kick you right out of it,” said Duke following his round. “You have to be consistent and try to play smart. You can’t get too aggressive and you have to make putts when they are offered up.”
After going out in a bogey free 2-under par 34 on the front nine, Duke dropped two more birdies on the back nine to combat two bogeys. He felt confident with his putter all day.
“The greens were really good speed for making putts,” he added. “They weren’t crazy fast, and weren’t too slow, so you could hit all your putts pretty firm and aggressive. I just stuck to that and made a few putts today.”
Seventy golfers competed in the Quebec qualifier. In addition to Duke, 14 players are also moving on to the Final Qualifier at Heron Point.
Seventeen-year-old amateur Griffin Jones from Manotick, Ont., finished second one stroke behind Duke at 1 under par. Quebec City’s Louis-Alexandre Pitre was solo third at even par.
Amateurs Cullen Chung (Westmount, Que.) and Étienne Papineau (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.) finished in a tie for fourth with professional Francis Berthiaume (Valleyfield, Que.) at 1 over par.
The Quebec Regional Qualifier was the third and final Regional Qualifying event. Provided 100 or more players were in the field at a Regional Qualifier, the low qualifier received direct exemption into the 2017 RBC Canadian Open.
Otherwise, the top 15 percent of finishers at each qualifier are eligible to compete at the Final Qualifying event.
Additional information and the full leaderboard from Monday’s RBC Canadian Open Regional Qualifier at Vallee du Richelieu can be found here.
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